Blogroll | Congregation Darchei Noam

This spring is going to be filled with the sound of music at Darchei Noam, but it won’t be courtesy of the Von Trapps. In a series of four evenings, we will explore the life and times of four giants of classical music – all of whom were Jewish.  What impact and influence did their identity have on the masterpieces they created? How did these individuals respond to the politics and culture of their day? What is their lasting legacy?...Read more...

Congregation Darchei Noam is thrilled to report that our member Lenka Lichtenberg's setting of the Aleinu prayer has been selected for the 2016 Shalshelet International Festival of New Jewish Music, to be held in Philadelphia in December, 2016. Lenka's piece was one of only 39 pieces by 33 artists chosen from over 250 entries to this international competition. 

Lenka wrote the...Read more...

The following is an excerpt from a history of Darchei Noam that I wrote for our Bar Mitzvah (13 years) ‎celebration.  It has three elements: a history that is as factual as I could make it, my take what I saw as the central...Read more...

Shabbat Shalom.

When Liane Sharkey, our Shul President called to say I was receiving the honour of Kallat Bereshit I was taken by surprise.  I’ve not even come close to impacting our community like my predecessors have but my hope is that in time I will.  Thank you all for your support and for being here today and of course Mazel Tov to my Chattan Torah Elliot Brodkin.  

As I begin to write about my...Read more...

I would like to express my gratitude to all of you for making time to be here on this Rosh Hashanah, a weekday, as you chose to put aside your weekly concerns and responsibilities and schedule this important time to be with us.

Gratitude is what sets us human animals apart from the animal world in general. Are cats grateful? No. Dogs? No. They love you,...Read more...

Read all about Darchei Noam's efforts to sponsor a Syrian Refugee family in the CJN and in i24 news!

In March of this year, the UJA Federation of Greater Toronto, ITANU Toronto, and the Miles Nadal JCC hosted a professionals and volunteers from Jewish community agencies, organizations, schools, camps, and synagogue  called Planting the Seeds for Transformational Change: An Inclusion Workshop with Inclusion expert Shelly Christensen. This workshop focused on creating strategies within each of the participants'...Read more...

Yiddish singer grew up without a connection to Judaism: Check out the feature article in this week's Canadian Jewish News!

Read all about our member, Lenka Lichtenberg, and the role Darchei Noam has played in her musical career.

Parshat Terumah is about the first set of instructions for the construction of the tabernacle, God’s first sanctuary in the desert. This d’var Torah is dedicated to the memory of my mother Helen Pedovitch Katz, who taught me, and everyone who stepped over the threshold of her home, how to make a home into a sanctuary. This Purim was 17 years since she passed away, in calendar years. In heart time, it feels like about 2...Read more...

A few weeks ago, I was browsing through my Facebook newsfeed when I stumbled upon a trailer for a new TV show, Kosher Soul, from the Lifetime Network. The preview for this “docu-sitcom” begins with the two stars of the show sitting on the couch, talking to the camera. “You can’t help who you fall in love with,” the man says. There’s a fast cut to a foot breaking a glass under the wedding chuppah, to the sound of a crowd cheering...Read more...

As part of each week’s Hebrew School session, each class enjoys an engaging, age-appropriate lesson with our music specialist in which both prayers and Hebrew songs are taught. The children learn tefillot (prayers), traditional Jewish holiday songs and folksongs, and more contemporary songs, and each class has opportunities to present what they’ve learned to their peers and parents at our weekly Kehillah (community)...Read more...

Shortly after I responded affirmatively to Liane's offer to be this year's Chatan Torah, I experienced a rather prolonged period of cognitive dissonance, denial, and buyer's remorse.  It wasn't just due to a lack of self-confidence in public speaking, but rather the realization that I had agreed to address this community on the subject of my spiritual journey.  Until now I've never used nor heard the pairing of "spiritual" and "my"...Read more...

Kol Nidre is the night that is most fraught with mystery and emotion for many Jews. There is a heightened sense of being on the edge of something – that something being our individual balance on the line between the past and the future.

“Kol Nidre” translates as “all vows”.  We declare all future vows and promises to be invalid.  We know this is the opportunity for us to ask for forgiveness from all those whom we...Read more...

The blue of her eyes reminded me of the color of a vast Russian sky.  She emerged, radiant, from the living waters of the small pool.  I had been asked by a colleague to serve as a witness at this unique conversion, due to my ability to speak Ludmilla’s mother tongue. The officiating rabbis needed an interpreter as well as a rabbi.  I filled both criteria…

My new friend was seventy-nine years old. Born near Moscow...Read more...

Our calendar and holidays are built around the agricultural cycle and remind us of our deep connection to the land and the natural world.

This Rosh Hashanah marks the beginning of a shmita year.  As we take stock of ourselves and how to live compassionately and justly, we reflect on our relationship with the global human community and natural world and remember that we don’t live apart from nature, although it seems so as we...Read more...